NAMES OF THE GANNET 25 



unica solum vice in toto anno." The derivation of the 

 word here given is ingenious, but can hardly be accepted 

 as the right one. Neither can any derivation from the 

 verb Socla=to linger, be accepted. Professor Skeat does not 

 believe there is such a word in any language. A better ex- 

 planation is that propounded by Martin ("A Voyage to 

 St. Kilda," 1698, p. 49), namely, that " Solan," a name 

 given to the bird " which with eyes directed forward sees 

 its prey from afar," was derived from the Irish {i.e. 

 Gaelic) word " Sou'l-er." Quickness of sight is a character 

 which is possessed by the Gannet in a marked degree. 

 Professor Skeat has obliged me with the following 

 comments : — " I can find no Irish or Gaelic sulalre, ' eyer.' 

 Apart from false forms, what we really find are : Irish suiL 

 ' eye ' ; suileog, ' little eye ' ; suileach, ' sharp-sighted " 

 (O'Reilly). Gaelic suil, ' eye ' ; suileag, ' little eye ' ; 

 7/ z, I ' '^h^i'P-'^ighted ' (Macleod). O'Reilly also has : 

 suilaire, ' a soland goose.' Macleod only gives in his 

 English-Gaelic part : ' solan goose, sulair, guga ' ,• and in the 

 other part, sulair, ' the Gannet.' .... The Gaelic sulair 

 (Irish, sulaire) does not mean ' watchful.' It simply means 

 ' Gannet,' and is an Irish and Gaelic borrowing from Norse. 

 Solan is not Celtic ; it has no sense in Celtic." 



Professor Skeat was the first to explain that the final n 

 in solan stands for Icelandic sula~n=" the Gannet," 



